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This weekend at UFC 285, Jon Jones will step into the octagon for the first time in over three years. Remarkably, he’ll be fighting for a world title.
Jon Jones isn’t the first fighter to return from a lengthy absence and be handed an instant UFC title shot. Over the years, we’ve seen numerous examples of this in the promotion.
Were all of these title shots earned? In all honesty, no, but at the time, the majority of them did make sense, even if not all of the fighters ended up winning.
Here are five fighters who were handed a UFC title shot after a lengthy absence.
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#5. Jon Jones – given a shot at the UFC heavyweight title
This weekend marks Jon Jones’ return to the octagon after three years away. Despite spending his entire career with the UFC thus far at 205 pounds, his return will see him fight for the promotion’s heavyweight title.
Jones’ opponent is set to be former interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane. While the Frenchman will be one of his toughest foes to date, many fans expect ‘Bones’ to pull through.
How did we get to this point? The consensus greatest light heavyweight fighter of all time, Jones practically dominated every fighter at 205 pounds from his title win in 2011 right up to his second reign.
However, despite hinting at it for years, ‘Bones’ never decided to make a move up in weight until this point.
Initially, his move up was planned in 2020 while he still held the light heavyweight title, but a mix of the COVID-19 pandemic and a disagreement with Dana White and company put paid to that.
Now, though, a bulked-up Jones looks ready to begin his run at heavyweight. If he can claim gold there, he’d join the short list of fighters to hold titles in multiple divisions.
Will he feel like the “real” champion given that the previous titleholder, Francis Ngannou, walked away from the UFC rather than defend his title? Perhaps not at the start, but if he can put together some title defenses, it’d be hard to argue against him.
Of course, Jones has to win first. Given that he hasn’t fought in three years, it won’t be easy. Whether he can emulate the more successful fighters on this list is a question that will be answered this weekend.
#4. Georges St-Pierre – given a shot at the UFC middleweight title
Perhaps the closest comparison to Jon Jones’ upcoming return is the comeback that former welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre made in late 2017.
After vacating his title in order to take a lengthy absence from the UFC in 2013, most fans believed that ‘GSP’ had retired for good. However, in a surprise move, he announced a return to action four years later.
This time, though, he wasn’t going for his old 170-pound title again. Instead, it was announced that St-Pierre would be moving up in weight to challenge middleweight titleholder Michael Bisping.
Feelings were largely mixed on this. Some fans couldn’t help but be excited for the return of arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history. Others, though, felt like he was jumping the queue at 185 pounds and had only chosen to face Bisping because he matched well with him stylistically.
In the end, thanks largely to Bisping’s abrasive trash-talk, it was impossible not to get hyped for the clash, even if St-Pierre hadn’t earned his shot.
The fight itself was wildly entertaining. While St-Pierre largely dominated, Bisping’s ability to hang tough and to cut him open from the bottom left doubt in the mind of the Canadian’s fans.
In the end, though, GSP prevailed. He knocked ‘The Count’ down in the third round and then submitted him with a rear-naked choke to become a two-division champion.
The parallel that Jones will want to avoid, of course, is what happened next. Rather than defend his newly won title, health issues meant that St-Pierre vacated again and headed into retirement, putting a slight dampener on his overall legacy.
Still, it’d be hard to label his return as anything but a success.
#3. Randy Couture – given a shot at the UFC heavyweight title
When Randy Couture returned to challenge Tim Sylvia for the UFC heavyweight title in early 2007, he hadn’t spent quite as long on the shelf as Jon Jones will have done prior to this weekend’s event.
However, while ‘The Natural’ had only been out of action for just over a year, it felt like he’d been gone a lot longer. That’s because in the aftermath of his previous fight, a knockout loss to Chuck Liddell, the 42-year-old announced his retirement from MMA.
In the year that’d followed, Couture had largely been used by the promotion as a commentator. So what triggered him to make his return?
Essentially, ‘The Natural’ saw an opportunity and took it. Dana White and company weren’t exactly fans of Sylvia and his title reign and, at the time, top contender Brandon Vera had become embroiled in a contract dispute.
Couture, then, stepped into the void, essentially as the UFC’s hired gunslinger, with the promotion hoping he’d upset the odds and end the reign of ‘The Maine-Iac’.
Remarkably, despite being 43 years old, he did just that. ‘The Natural’ surprised Sylvia by dropping him in the fight’s early moments, and then dominated every moment afterwards with his wrestling and solid boxing.
Couture’s victory was sold as one of the most miraculous in the promotion’s history. While he went onto his own contract dispute with White and company shortly after, his legacy as one of the true greats remains intact.
#2. Ken Shamrock – given a shot at the UFC light heavyweight title
The UFC has handed out plenty of undeserved title shots over the years, but from a sporting perspective, allowing Ken Shamrock to jump the queue at 205 pounds in 2002 was particularly egregious.
Not only had Shamrock not actually fought in the octagon for nearly six years at that point, but he’d also spent the entirety of his career as a heavyweight. He had never cut to light heavyweight before.
Still, from a promotional perspective, allowing ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ to challenge champion Tito Ortiz made absolute sense. After all, Shamrock had massive star power with the fans thanks to his run in the fondly remembered early days of the promotion, as well as his run in WWE.
More to the point, he had a ready made grudge with Ortiz dating back years. At the time, ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ was probably the promotion’s only bankable star.
Essentially, a fight between Ortiz and Shamrock would bring more money and spotlight to the UFC – something that, at the time, they needed badly – than any other fight.
Even the fighters Shamrock jumped ahead of knew and understood this. Chuck Liddell, the consensus top contender, happily stepped aside for Shamrock, instead fighting Renato Sobral on the undercard of the event.
In the end, the fight headlined the most successful UFC pay-per-view in years, and is widely credited today with financially saving the promotion from going under.
As for Shamrock, his return didn’t go too well as he was dominated by Ortiz en route to a third-round TKO, just as many observers had expected. In terms of the bigger picture, though, that really didn’t matter.
#1. Dominick Cruz – given a shot at the UFC bantamweight title
Unlike many of the fighters on this list, when Dominick Cruz returned from the best part of two years away to challenge for the UFC bantamweight title in early 2016, it was hard to argue he didn’t deserve it.
Cruz had held the title from 2011 to 2012 and had never lost it inside the octagon, instead being forced to vacate after suffering a serious knee injury.
‘The Dominator’ returned in 2014 to defeat Takeya Mizugaki and was widely expected to challenge TJ Dillashaw for the crown shortly after that. However, yet another knee injury landed him on the shelf again.
By the time he finally stepped into the octagon to face Dillashaw, he’d fought once in just over four years, and hadn’t been involved in a title fight for even longer. That didn’t stop Cruz, though. In one of the most remarkable performances in octagon history, ‘The Dominator’ went toe-to-toe with Dillashaw for five rounds.
While he wasn’t able to finish his foe, he definitely did just about enough to edge him out, and was rightfully rewarded with the victory – making him the champion once again.
Given his absence and the litany of injuries he’d suffered, it was probably one of the greatest showings in UFC history, and remains a truly remarkable comeback story. If Jon Jones can emulate it this weekend, he’ll have done well.
